Bangladesh Teenage Prostitute: A Life of Torture and Steroids [PHOTOS]

A couple of hours away from the Bangladesh capital of Dhaka young girls are being pulled into a degrading life of prostitution, torture and forced ingestion of steroids.

In the small town of Tangail, 800 women including teenage girls have been trapped in prostitution for years.

Teenage brothels are an open secret in Bangladesh despite the inhuman treatment of the girls, including forced ingestion of a drug used to fatten up cows called Oradexon. The girls are forced to use the drug to stay "stronger and healthier".

"My sardarni forced me to take a tablet. She beat me up and stopped giving food," Hashi, a prostitute, who has a four-year-old son staying with relatives, told Reuters.

"She threatened me and reminded me about my loans.In this brothel, customers always look for healthy girls. I take Oradexon. I need customers so I can pay my bills and loans.

According to the BBC, a survey carried out by ActionAid in two brothels found Oradexon to be extremely addictive and harmful. It says the pills can have a detrimental affect on hormones, cause high blood pressure, skin rashes and liver damage.

Over time, the drug can damage a woman's immune system and three users are believed to have died. A campaign has been launched warning against its dangers.

Seventeen-year-old prostitute Hashi, embraces a Babu, her 'husband', inside her small room at Kandapara brothel in Tangail, northeastern BangladeshReutersCow steroid Oradexon is used to fatten up the girls for clientsReutersHashi waits for businessReutersOnce forced into prostitution in Bangladesh, girls such as Hashi find it impossible to escapeReutersThere are hundreds of sex slaves in TangailReutersA customer pretends to resist Hashi's advancesReutersHealth and hygiene are not high on the agenda at the Bangladesh child brothelsReutersSeventeen-year-old Hashi smokes a cigaretteReutersSixteen-year-old prostitute Maya waits for a customerReuters